Haunted by Lost Memories
by KatieCakeCat
Summary: A day forgotten by Rose will come back to haunt her and the Doctor, can they recover from the shock revelation that the memories bring? This is my first story! Semi-implies Rose/Ten but not explicitly mentioned. Sort of set assuming that Doomsday didn't happen and that Rose and the Doctor have traveled together for a long time. Don't own Doctor Who.
1. Prologue

Rose and the Doctor were in the console room on the TARDIS. The Doctor was tinkering again whilst Rose laughed as she teased him about his obsession with taking things apart.

"You're like a little boy who takes every toy he owns apart and then can never put them back together!" She said giving him a coy smile.

"I am not!" exclaimed the Doctor, "and don't call the TARDIS a toy she doesn't like it". Suddenly, almost as if she had been waiting for that exact moment the TARDIS shook violently throwing Rose out of the pilot's chair where she was sat and onto the floor next to the Doctor who immediately moved to try and shield her. The rapid shaking continued throwing various discarded items around the console room. Rose cried out in shock as a tea cup narrowly missed hitting her square in the face.

"Doctor, WHAT is going on?!" she moaned through gritted teeth, trying to remain upright as the TARDIS did its best impression of a rodeo ride at a fair.

"I don't know"admitted the Doctor worriedly, "I can't tell anything from these readings." The console room span with increasing ferocity, neither the Doctor nor Rose could keep their footing for more than a few seconds, Rose clung for dear life to one of the cold metal railings that surrounded the main console watching whilst the Doctor was thrown from side to side as he tried to calm his ship down.

Suddenly, as rapidly as it had began the TARDIS ceased shaking.

"Thank god for that." Rose sighed in relief.

"Are you okay?" asked the Doctor worriedly as he stared into her hazel eyes from the floor of the console room where they'd both been thrown.

"Never been better ta!" Muttered Rose in a tone of voice that suggested that she was anything but better.

"Oi! It wasn't my fault the TARDIS decided to throw a strop, anyway it's over now, everything is fine, no damage done" moaned the Doctor at the exact same moment as the console room filled with a bright, blinding golden light.

Rose shielded her eyes, that light, it was so painful and yet so brilliant, she dimly recalled having seen it somewhere, she was distracted from this thought as the Doctor came to stand protectively beside her his arms encircling her waist, his sonic screwdriver at the ready and his brown eyes flashing in anger.

The golden light began to dim as if plug had been pulled, Rose could see a frail looking figure in the middle of the light source, as the last of the light faded away this figure crumpled to the ground in a small heap.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the Doctor, running over to the collapsed figure, "WHAT?!"


	2. Chapter 1

15 Years Earlier

Rose awoke slowly, sweating and when she raised her hand to her face she could tell she'd been crying, it was odd though, she had no recollection as to why. In fact she had very little recollection of anything; she tried to move her head groaning as her whole body protested at the movement, she could see the TARDIS console room just as it always was, the yellowy lights and soft hum of the ship calmed her slightly.

"Doctor" she murmured. Immediately he was there by her side stroking her hair and scanning her with his screwdriver, she closed her eyes against the blue light.

"What happened?" she grimaced; even speaking made her headache worsen.

"I don't know, one minute we were in here, then it went dark and when the lights came back up you were on the floor, I was just coming to check on you as you woke up" the doctor stated a look of anger on his face, he really didn't like not knowing things. He stroked Rose's blonde hair away from her clammy forehead in the tender absent minded way that Rose knew indicated he was thinking deeply about something.

"Penny for them?" Rose raised herself into a sitting position and gently touched the doctor's face. He simply smiled and stood up, speaking softly he said, "physically you're fine, some bruising and you're going to be extremely sore in the morning but other than that fine."

"Only physically fine?" Rose laughed but soon stopped as she saw the worried look on the Doctor's face.

He moved away from her, turning to face the console and his voice had an edge of steel, "someone has been tampering with your memories" he spoke as if every word gave him pain and as he turned to face her Rose could see that his brown eyes, so recently full of concern had turned black and hard with rage.

"What do you mean tampered?" Had someone been in her head? What had she forgotten? If only this blasted headache would go away she might be able to focus on what.

"That headache you've got is a classic sign of tampering" the Doctor murmured as he stepped towards her. "May I?" He asked indicating towards Rose's head, she nodded in affirmation and he gently put his fingers to her temples and shut his eyes.

"Remember anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door, I won't open it" he said. Rose smiled slightly to herself, there wasn't anything she had to hide from the Doctor, her Doctor. He frowned slightly, "oh Rose, there's been a right bodged up job in your head, I can't get through it, not without damaging other things, I'm sorry." He opened his eyes as he said "we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way." He stood up rapidly and offered his hand to help Rose up. As she stood her head swam and she stumbled, the Doctor put his arm around her to stop her from falling and Rose leant into him to steady herself.

"Go and get some rest, I'll be running some logarithms for a few hours anyway" he ordered softly. She turned slowly, offering him a small smile as she walked away. The Doctor smiled at her retreating back but as he turned back to the console his smile hardened, someone had been messing with Rose's head and he was going to found out who and then he was going to cause them a world of trouble.


	3. Chapter 2

Rose frowned in her sleep and moaned slightly, she began to twist and turn as the nightmare fully took hold. In the console room the TARDIS hummed uncomfortably causing the Doctor to look up from the screen.

"What's wrong old girl eh?" He placed a hand on the machine in a consoling manner as one might console a crying child. He frowned in concern then turned on his heel sharply and headed quickly for Rose's room.

As he reached the door he could hear her whimpering and moaning in her sleep, he knocked softly and pushed the door open. Rose looked a state, she was twisted in the duvet and her pillows were all over the floor, tracks of tears were glistening in the light from the door.

"Rose, Oh Rose" he murmured as he crossed the room in two steps and placed his hand on her forehead stroking her tousled hair out of her eyes. Immediately Rose calmed and became still, the Doctor replaced the pillow and the duvet and tucked Rose back in. As he straightened to leave Rose turned over and muttered his name.

"Doctor, Doctor, please don't go, please, stay" she muttered still mostly asleep. The Doctor smiled slightly and lay down next to her on the bed, he crossed his arms behind his head and lay backwards his long legs crossed at the ankles. Rose sighed and moved closer to him as she fell back into a deep sleep.

The next morning Rose was surprised to wake up with her chest on the doctor's chest, she had no recollection of the night before, but she was glad he's thought to remove his suit jacket beforehand, she didn't want to wake up with pinstripes on her face!

"Morning, sleepyhead" laughed the Doctor, as she brushed her hair from her face, "feeling better?"

"Much" murmured Rose. She stood up and headed towards the bathroom as the Doctor stood and retrieved his suit jacket from the back of the chair.

"I'll be in the console room" he stated as he left. He walked down the corridors of the TARDIS, stopping quickly in the kitchen to make a cup of tea. As he got to the console room he noted that his calculations from the previous night had finished, his happiness was short lived however, he threw the screen away from him as the results flashed inconclusive. He fell back into the Pilot's chair and put his head into his hands. He was exhausted and defeated, someone had hurt his Rose and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Doctor" Rose's voice broke him out of his black mood, "are you okay?" she asked, looking concerned. She walked towards him and placed her hands on his shoulders so she could look into his eyes. Suddenly the Doctor stood up, almost knocking Rose of balance, and hugged her tightly.

"Doctor, can't breathe" Rose stammered trying to suppress a laugh. The Doctor released her looking sheepish ad then they were both laughing, laughing so much that it hurt. Every time they looked at each other they broke into new peals of laughter. It felt good to laugh like that, it had got a bit serious for a bit and they needed a release.

Eventually, they stopped laughing and the Doctor looked more serious.

"I don't know what to do Rose" the Doctor dejectedly, "I don't know how to fix this"

"Let's just forget about it, I'm fine, you're fine, let's just try and move on, yeah?" Rose looked at him worriedly, it was concerning when he became so fixated on things like this. If she didn't help him, he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't sleep and he'd waste away until he found the answer to his question and even Rose could see that was most probably a helpless case.

After a pause the Doctor smiled at her, "okay, as long as you promise me to tell me if anything hurts or if anything changes." His smile grew wider as she nodded. "Well then, what shall we go see today?"


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N -I've upped the rating as there is a brief description of injures and better safe than sorry!**

Present day- where our story began.

Rose blinked repeatedly to refocus her eyes now the blinding light had gone, as her vision returned to normal she could see the Doctor already crouched over the crumpled figure in the centre of the room. He looked up at her with concern but after seeing she was okay his attention returned to the floor. Now that the light was gone Rose could see that the figure was a young girl, probably a few years younger than herself, Rose caught herself, sometimes she forget she no longer aged. Since the events on the game station when she'd absorbed the time vortex to save the Doctor, Rose had stopped aging, physically she still looked like a 20 year old. She was in fact 78 and there was no way the girl was anywhere near that old!

"Oi!" The Doctor's shout brought Rose out of her train of thought, "help me get her to the infirmary" he continued hurriedly. As Rose drew nearer to the girl she saw that she was covered in bruises and had blood all over her clothes and skin. Rose really hoped it wasn't all hers because otherwise it didn't look good. The Doctor scooped the girl into his arms and Rose ran ahead of him to open the door to the infirmary.

The TARDIS infirmary was a room that would make any hospital look like a child's playroom, it was spotless, gleaming white with a bed in the middle at about hip height. Surrounding the bed were banks of machines, each collecting different data. A comfortable chair was about a metre away from the bed and a movable stool sat directly next to it so that the Doctor could sit whilst he worked on his patient. It hadn't been used too often as most of Rose and the Doctor's adventures only ended in minor injuries, nothing that required a fully stocked infirmary, until now.

The Doctor laid the girl on the bed and began fiddling with the machines until they displayed her life signs.

"Rose, I need you to clean the blood off her so that I can see which injuries need tending to first." The Doctor had gained the calm tone Rose now associated with serious and possibly life threatening situations. Rose went to the sink and wet a sponge, as she wiped the blood she realised how frail the girl actually was. She looked like she hadn't eaten a decent meal in months; Rose made a mental note to take the girl for chips as soon as she was well enough. The more blood she wiped away however, the more concerned she became, it seemed that the girl was quite seriously injured. Someone, or something Rose added in her head, had really damaged this young girl. The Doctor looked up at her and she could see in his eyes that this fact had crossed his mind too, Rose wouldn't want to be in the culprit's shoes if the Doctor found out who they were, he hated violence especially against children or animals.

"I'd say the most concerning injury right now is the collapsed lung..." the Doctor muttered, more to himself than to Rose, who had finished cleaning the blood and was now stroking the girl's hair in an attempt to be soothing. The Doctor continued to look at several screens sighing as he went. Suddenly he stopped, drawing a sharp intake of breath which caused Rose to look up from the girl's bruise ringed eyes.

"What? What it is it?!" she asked, she hadn't seen the Doctor this shocked in a long time. Her question, however, was eclipsed as the girl began to open her eyes. As she caught site of the Doctor her eyes widened in fear and she tried to draw away from him, this caused her to gasp in considerable pain. The Doctor put a hand out to stop her moving and moved towards the cupboard where the anaesthetic was kept, he didn't want the girl to be awake when he had to reset her broken bones or when he had to re-inflate her lung.

"Hey" Rose whispered softly, the girl turned towards her and her eyes widened further.

"M-m-mum?" she stammered.


	5. Chapter 4

Rose awoke to the sound of the Doctor crashing and banging around the infirmary- he was mad and Rose was worried. She'd dismissed what the girl had said as a pain induced delusion, maybe she looked like this little girl's mother or something, she couldn't actually be though it was ridiculous, so why was the Doctor so het up about it?

The Doctor was exhausted, he'd fixed the girl's major injuries as well as he could. He'd had to reset all her bones before the TARDIS could begin to mend them and even under anaesthetic it seemed to him as if the child had felt every movement. This would be the case if what he saw on the scans was true. He turned to the chair as he saw Rose begin to stir, it couldn't be could it, she couldn't be that girl's mother, it wasn't possible. He dismissed the thought as ridiculous, but a little voice in the back of his head kept reminding him of the scans.

"Wotcha" Rose's groggy voice came from the chair, she sat up and grimaced as the consequences of spending the night in a chair became clear, she stretched sighing with relief as the stretch eased the pain.

"Hey" the Doctor smiled, "fancy some breakfast?" Rose nodded and the Doctor inputted something into one of the machines which caused the light to dim.

"Will she be okay?" Rose asked.

"Yes" the Doctor said curtly. Rose looked into his face shocked at his tone, the Doctor was usually such a caring person, what had he seen on those scans last night? She resolved to ask him when he had some food inside him, the Doctor always seemed to respond better after food. When they got into the kitchen she moved to the fridge to see what they had in.

"Well we've got those bagels we picked up at that market last week, or we've got some eggs, not really sure what animal they're from, but they look okay." Rose said moving things around in the fridge so she could see the things at the back.

"Hmm, the bagels, I think" said the Doctor moving towards the kettle. When they were sat at counter drinking tea after finishing their bagels Rose decided it was the best time to ask.

"So, who is she?" She asked tilting her head in the direction of the infirmary. The Doctor shrugged looking distant as if he was considering the same question.

"Well what did you see on the scans?" Rose questioned. After he'd seen those readouts the Doctor's attitude had completely changed and Rose was keen to know why.

"It was weird..." he hesitated, "her DNA, I'd have to run more tests, but well, she's not completely human, she's well, it's.."

"Spit it out Doctor" Rose smiled at him her tongue poking through her teeth.

"She's half Time Lord." The Doctor murmured looking into his tea as if it held all the answers. Rose just looked mystified and lost.

"Time Lord?" She said, "but you're the last aren't you? You've never, have you?" The question was left open. The Doctor looked up at her indignantly and shook his head, there was only one person he would ever want and so this girl's mere presence was impossible. Also for a Time Lord to dilute his breeding with another race was considered to be one of the most heinous crimes. The Time Lords were a pretty elitist race.

Rose was completely mystified, how was this possible? Added to the fact the girl thought Rose was her Mother, wow, this day was getting ridiculous. Then something flashed in the back of her mind.

"Wait, Doctor..." he looked up alarmed at her tone of voice, "how old is this girl?" The Doctor frowned puzzled.

"About 15 ish, I can't be completely sure." The flash in the back of her brain intensified, it was like a full on siren now.

"So that would mean she was born about the time of that incident." Rose tried to get him to see where she was coming from. She could see the moment the penny dropped in his eyes.

"No, it couldn't be, it couldn't be related." He dismissed her, but he stood up and rapidly left the kitchen. Rose sighed and began to clear away the breakfast things, she rubbed the back of her hand across the forehead, this day was already giving her a headache and it was only just after breakfast. She began to mull things over in her mind, if the girl was her daughter and she was half Time Lord, would that mean? No, it couldn't, the Doctor had explained what happened if he was that close to someone and she couldn't hear him in her head or feel his every emotion. Although she could guess his feelings right now as she heard a crash from down the corridor.

The Doctor was back in the infirmary searching through the cupboards for a specific wire he needed for the full DNA scan. He was mad and may have accidently shut a few cupboard doors more forcefully than he would have normally; therefore he wasn't surprised when Rose poked her head nervously round the infirmary door.

"You alright?" She asked as she walked across the room to put a comforting hand on his back. He turned to her and his brown eyes met hers, she could see the anguish in his eyes and was concerned to see how much the appearance of this girl had shook him. He turned away without answering and began attaching the wires to the tubes coming out of the girl's arm. He then attached the other ends of the wire to one of the machines surrounding the bed, he sank back into the stool and Rose could see how exhausted he was.

"This test is going to take a few hours isn't it?" Rose was worried by how drained the Doctor looked, "why don't you go and get some sleep? I'll wait here and keep an eye on the progress." He nodded and walked away slowly, she doubted he would sleep but at least he might go and lie down and not worry too much. She sank back into the chair and closed her eyes, she was exhausted and almost immediately drifted back to sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

The lights in the infirmary had dimmed and the TARDIS made soft humming noises as she flew through the time vortex. Rose slept soundlessly in the chair, the TARDIS noise calmed her even when she was sleeping. The young girl on the bed however, began to moan in her sleep her eyes moving rapidly beneath her eyelids as her nightmare began to take hold. She began to twist slightly, moaning as this aggravated her almost healed injuries (the TARDIS was a quick worker). Suddenly she screamed.

Rose jerked awake, almost falling over in her haste to reach the bed. The girl's eyes were open but unfocused, they flashed with the same golden light that had heralded her arrival. Rose could tell that the girl was still in the grasp of her nightmare as she whimpered. Rose stroked the girl's forehead as the Doctor burst through the door. He slowed when he saw Rose cradling the girl stroking her hair away from her sweaty forehead. His eyes widened as he saw the golden light ringing her blank eyes.

"What?" he exclaimed, running to one of the screens, the girl's thrashing increased and the golden light began to radiate from her skin as well as her eyes.

"What is it?" Rose asked, "It- it looks like, well it looks like the light when you regenerate." The Doctor simply nodded and returned to a screen directly behind the bed. "Is she going to regenerate?"

"I don't think so, it seems as if her energy is focused outward rather than inward" the Doctor replied focusing on the screen. "I think I can remove it safely" he said more to himself than Rose as he drew closer to the girl on the bed, pushing the screen back out of his way. Rose watched from her position at the top of the bed.

"Hold her still please, this might hurt her" the Doctor murmured as he reached for the girl's hand, Rose hopped down off the bed and steadied the girl's shoulders. As the Doctor grasped the girl's hand she began to strain against Rose's hold. Rose couldn't take her eyes away from the girl's, the gold light was most intense where her pupil would normally be and although it hurt to look at its beauty made it difficult to look away from. The girl opened her mouth and with a scream the gold light was drained from her body and hung in the air, the girl fell back to the bed and her eyes fluttered shut. The Doctor moved over to a switch on the wall by the door and flicked it; a soft hum like an extraction fan reverberated around the room and the TARDIS reabsorbed the light.

A ping indicated that the test the Doctor had set running a few hours previously was complete. Rose mentally praised the TARDIS for her perfect timing. Unless she was very much mistaken Rose could swear the TARDIS hummed in delight at this thought. The Doctor bounded to the screen seemingly refreshed from the few hours he had spent away from the infirmary, Rose marvelled at how he could gain such energy from a few hours of rest, but of course Time Lord biology was much superior to her own, she rolled her eyes.

"What?" The Doctor said.

"Oh nothing, just thinking" Rose replied grinning at him. He grinned back, the mystery of this girl had begun to intrigue him. He turned his attention away from Rose and looked at the screen that was pinging at him. The screen showed a strand of DNA and had several statistical breakdowns along the side. He pulled his glasses out of his suit pocket and balanced them on the end of his nose. Rose suppressed a grin, she was 90% sure the Doctor didn't need those glasses and just wore them in order to make himself look smarter. She thought how handsome they made him look and felt her cheeks begin to redden. Luckily the Doctor was engrossed in the results shown on the screen and so didn't see her blush, she shook her head to clear the thoughts of the Doctor and moved so she could see the screen over his shoulder.

"So what am I looking at?" Rose asked, the screen was just a mix of numbers and figures that were complete gobbledegook to her.

"Well, she is definitely half Time Lord, and more to the point her Time Lord DNA is mine" the Doctor said his frown deepening, "and well, her human DNA, appears to come from... well.. you." Rose looked up at him in shock as her vision began to swim.

"D-d-octor" she stammered as the world went black.


	7. Chapter 6

Rose awoke back in the infirmary chair with the Doctor's suit jacket covering her. The Doctor was leant over the girl, it seemed as if she was beginning to stir. Rose drew the jacket around her tighter, how could that girl be her daughter? There was no chance Rose could have been pregnant, she hadn't well, she hadn't done that since meeting the Doctor, their relationship wasn't like that and she loved him too greatly to go elsewhere. The DNA test must have been wrong, but the TARDIS was rarely incorrect, in fact she had never known it to be wrong. This thought made her heart sink slightly.

The Doctor was more concerned with the fact that the girl was half Time Lord, she was an enigma, for her to have his DNA, it was impossible. He needed her to wake up so he could find out who she was, or what she was. He looked down as the girl's eyes began to open, her dark brown eyes met his and filled with fear.

"W-w-w-w-here am I?" She stammered weakly.

"Who are you?" he growled. Rose was shocked at his tone, where was the kind and compassionate man she knew and loved? She stood and moved to the side of the bed directly opposite the Doctor, she frowned at him. The Doctor looked up and caught her expression, he ran his hand through his hair wearily.

"Sorry" he muttered, like a child who'd been admonished for stealing sweets from the jar. Rose felt her face soften and she gave him a small smile, she knew he must be tired and this situation was clearly stressful for the both of them, she couldn't be angry with him. She turned her attention away from him and towards the small girl on the table.

"Wotcha" the girl smiled at this phrase, almost as if Rose was mad. "I'm Rose and this is the Doctor" Rose continued indicating towards the Doctor with a tilt of the head, he smiled a thin, tight lipped smile. "You're on the TARDIS, it's his ship, you just sort of, well, you just appeared" she finished a little lamely.

The girl looked around her and she pushed herself into a sitting position. Rose was shocked, no matter how many times she'd seen it done she forgot just how quickly and efficiently the TARDIS worked. Already the girl's cuts and bruises looked a week old and all her internal injuries must have been fixed in order for her to sit up.

"What's your name?" Rose asked her curiosity beginning to increase.

"Annalise" the girl replied quietly, her voice was light and still had the tone of a child, "you don't recognise me do you?" She asked Rose looking directly into her eyes. Rose shook her head and the girl visibly deflated, she looked heartbroken. Rose's heart immediately went out to the girl and she went to put her hand on Annalise's shoulder, however, the girl drew away.

"She said you wouldn't, but I didn't believe her, I thought she was lying to me to stop me finding you, but she wasn't, you don't have a clue who I am, do you?!" Annalise's voice had an accusatory edge to it now and colour began to rise in her previously pale cheeks. Rose backed away, who was this girl? Why should she know who the hell Annalise was?

"Why should she know who you are?" The Doctor asked a cool edge to his tone; Rose recognised the tone as one of the Doctor trying to keep his anger under control. The girl looked up at him incredulously anger tinting her brown eyes. Rose noted that their hardness mirrored the Doctor's almost exactly.

"She's my Mum." The girl said deliberately, her voice was quiet but angry.

"Don't lie. Who are you? Who sent you? What do they want?" The Doctor burst out. Rose watched in a daze as the girl's eyes flashed with anger.

"I've already told you, my name is Annalise. Nobody sent me. I came here because I wanted to see my mum." Both she and the Doctor were angry now. The Doctor began to pace up and down the infirmary whilst Annalise began to massage one hand with the other." I thought that you could never forget me" she said looking directly into Rose's eyes. "No matter what they told me, hoping to meet you was what kept me going in that place, it was the only thing that stopped them breaking me, stopped me going crazy." The anger seemed to drain out of her as she admitted this and was instead replaced by an intense sadness, one that seemed to fill the room. Rose looked up towards the Doctor and could see his eyes soften, no matter how angry he was he hated to see people upset, that was one of the many things she loved about him.

"What who told you?" He asked, his voice was less intense now and more warm.

"The matron" Annalise replied, shuddering at what that name reminded her of.

"Matron?" Rose asked, "like in a hospital?" The girl nodded and her eyes unfocused as her mind went back to that place she had called home for fifteen years.


	8. Chapter 7

A few months earlier-on an unknown planet similar to Earth

"How many times Annalise?! They will not remember you, no one will remember you. You're a nobody. You're NOTHING" A woman's commanding tones drifted out of a small office on the 3rd floor corridor of a building that closely resembled a hospital. This was Lord Leftusly's Institute for the Education of Wayward Young Children. It was a squat grey building that looked dark and dank, not somewhere extremely inviting at all.

"But they're my parents, of course they will remember me. How could they forget?" A small voice replied from the same office. Inside a middle aged woman was sat behind an oppressive wooden desk, in front of her sat Annalise, her head lowered towards the ground.

"This insolence will have to stop child." The woman leant across the table and grasped Annalise under the chin, yanking her head up roughly so she could look her in the eye. "No one will ever remember you. You are nothing. You are pathetic." She let go of her chin and wiped her hand on her skirt as if the young girl in front of her was dirty and disgusting. "Get out of my sight now! You're on restricted rations for this week."

Restricted, the girl thought to herself, restricted in this place meant nothing. Great, she wasn't sure she could cope with no food for another week. She had only just got off restricted rations a few days ago and she still felt weak. Her hands still shook and she couldn't stand up without her vision swimming. She sighed scolding herself for her inability to hold her tongue, but no matter how many times matron, or the other members of staff told her she was nobody, she just couldn't accept it, never mind believe it.

She trudged down the dark, dingy corridor to her room. As she pushed open the door she took in the one place she could call her own. Her room was small, barely enough room for a single mattress on the floor and a box for her few belongings. She sank down onto the mattress and pulled the box towards her. Inside was a small photo frame, a locket containing a small lock of blonde hair and a coin with a queen on one side. These were the only things that she had to remind her of her parents, if matron ever found them she'd be for it. Annalise had stolen them from her file on a trip to the matron's office a few years ago and had hidden them underneath her clothes since then. Although matron liked to make her life hell she very rarely searched the rooms and so Annalise's secret had been safe.

The photograph was of a young woman in a purple leather jacket with blonde hair blowing in her face, she was smiling, her tongue poking through her teeth as she looked towards the camera. Annalise wondered what it was like to feel that happy and carefree, it had been a long time since she had smiled or laughed in such a carefree manner.

Annalise jumped as she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor, she hurriedly stuffed the items back underneath the clothes, kicked the box away from her and then curled up on the mattress trying to pretend to sleep.

The door was thrown open and a dark form filled the door.

"Oi, matron told me that you've been causing trouble again, you little rat." The shadow growled entering the room. The light from the small window in the room fell on the shadow, it was a man, and he was huge, almost as wide as he was tall with a face that looked like it had been hit with a spade. This was matron's guard dog, big and stupid he did whatever matron asked him. Annalise had nicknamed him Fluffy, not that she would ever tell him that to his face. He grabbed her shoulder and dragged her up out of the bed, he slammed her backwards into the wall and she cracked her head hard against the wall. As he let go of her shoulders she fell down, curling into the foetal position, as she did every time Fluffy began one of his beatings. Somewhere in the middle of it she passed out as she had done many times before.

When she woke up she was in the white walled sanatorium with matron standing over her. Her head ached and every bone in her body felt broken. This was the worst she had ever felt after one of Fluffy's visits and if matron hadn't been there Annalise would definitely have cried, but she didn't want to show weakness in front of the woman who was in charge of her main tormentor.

"Well, here we are again Annalise, see what happens when you don't listen?" Matron smirked as the girl in front of her grimaced in pain, furiously blinking back tears. "Bet you wish Mummy and Daddy were here now don't you. Unfortunate that they'd have no idea who you are really isn't it." Matron's voice was cold but her eyes betrayed alarm as she realised just how injured Annalise was. Although she liked to maintain some form of control through violence over her charges they were valuable and she didn't like them to be too badly damaged. No matter how much she hated the young girl lying in front of her she was one of the most valuable charges matron had. Matron remembered the day Annalise's 'parents' had come to the school like it was yesterday, she thought all her birthdays had come at once. As Annalise fell back into unconsciousness matron's thoughts drifted back to that day 15 and a bit years ago.

15 years ago-The Institute

"Weeeelll" said a sheepish male voice, "it's not 18th century Venice." The matron looked up from her paperwork as the voice drifted in through her open office window.

"You're making a habit of this, getting us lost." A female voice replied, happy but with a slight hint of annoyance. Matron couldn't hear the rest of the conversation as the two individuals walked away from the window but she became excited. The school hadn't had new visitors in months and the current stock of children was becoming low.

The Lord Leftusly's Institute for the Education of Wayward Young Children claimed to be a place of education, supposedly taking in unwanted or abandoned children and providing them with an education in order to further their chances in life. In reality, however, the institute was far from this. Yes they educated children, but not in order to further their chances, the institute educated children to be fighters. The children were then sold to visiting armies, as cheap slave soldiers or to guilds to be assassins, or thieves depending on their talents. These jobs were badly paid and carried a high risk of death, but people were willing to pay extortionate amounts in order not to do it themselves, this was where the institute profited.

Many of the children in the services of the institute were abandoned; however, this didn't satisfy the institute's need for profit. Some of the children came from accidental visitors to the institute. These visitors were drugged and specific DNA implanted to give the most valuable offspring. After the birth their memories were wiped and they left feeling as if they had just visited for a day rather than 9 months. This gave the institute access to children who were never going to be missed, never going to be reclaimed and that allowed them to be as cruel as they wished in the training methods they used.

The head of this institute was matron. She was a hard looking woman, with extremely human features (one of her ancestors had been human), and so she lacked the large protruding forehead of her species. Her eyes were steely grey without a hint of compassion or kindness and her skin was weathered and tough. Nobody knew how old she was; it seemed as if she had been at the institute forever. Matron ran a brutal regime in the institute; children who were brought in underwent strict rationing, tough lessons and violent punishments in order to train them to become warriors. There was no love in the institute, no consoling hugs and no kind words. It was an extremely horrible life for the children who existed there.

Matron didn't carry out any punishments herself, she didn't like to get her hands dirty. These were carried out by her right hand man, Jordullian. He had a large protruding forehead and was massive, he was almost as wide as he was tall and he had a temper to match his size. Matron liked him because he used his fists first and asked questions later. On this particular day, Jordullian was busy disciplining two boys for crying during training when matron came bursting into the room.

"Visitors" she hissed, "we've got visitors!" Jordullian grunted, threw the boy he was holding to the floor and followed matron out of the room and towards the front door. They reached the entrance just as the visitors began to knock. Matron spread the doors wide and with a large grin she took in the appearance of the visitors. One was a tall dark haired man, in a brown pinstripe suit, trainers and a dark brown long coat, he had a stupidly large grin on his face. Matron wasn't interested in him however, unless he was of a useful species she didn't need him. She was more interested in his companion. This girl was young, possibly 19 or 20, with blonde hair and hazel eyes; she wore a purple leather jacket that definitely didn't originate on the same planet as the institute. The matron smiled even more at this, foreign children tended to fetch far higher prices at auction, they also were often easier to break, the differences between them and the other children made it easy to play on their loneliness.

"Welcome to Lord Leftusly's Institute for the Education of Wayward Young Children" said matron, "please come in." She stepped backward and beckoned them in, not missing the glance that the girl gave the gentleman. The corridors echoed as matron rapidly walked down the corridor and up the stairs to her office, the two strangers followed, the gentleman humming slightly as he walked. Once in her office matron sat behind her desk and gestured to two chairs opposite her. The two strangers sat, the man leaning forward, the girl looking towards him for guidance.

"I am matron here" matron began, "may I enquire into who you are?"

"Well, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose" the man stated, as if it was something he had said thousands of times before.

"Ah, lovely" matron smiled, "that should make form filling much easier." The Doctors eyebrows rose in surprise but before he could speak matron had signalled to Jordullian who was stood behind the door. The large man knocked the Doctor out with a single blow to the head.

"What are you doing?!" Rose exclaimed as the Doctor fell to the floor. The matron merely smiled as Jordullian clamped the rag over her mouth and nose, Rose could just detect the chemical tang on the rag before her eyes became heavy and she drifted into a deep sleep.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N- Sorry this took so long to post! For some reason i just couldn't get it straight in my head, hope you enjoy it, thanks for the reviews and please leave me more if you have the time!**

9 months later

"I told you to keep him sedated!" Matron screamed. Honestly sometimes her colleagues here were useless. This was the fourth time in a month they had let the Doctor man become lucid enough to try and escape. With the birth due any second the Doctor being free could cause her whole plan to come crashing down. She remembered the day the test results on the Doctor had come back, she thought getting a human was jackpot enough, but the Doctor, oh he was in a whole different league. Matron had run the scans four times, just to make sure, but there it was in black and white, Time Lord.

Matron moved into the institute's birthing room, like the rest of the building this room was grey, grey and uninviting. It had the feel of a prison cell, or a torture chamber. It was matron's pride and joy. On a hospital gurney in the middle of the room lay the blonde human girl, she was lying on her back and appeared to be heavily pregnant, her hair splayed across the pillow. Not long now, matron thought, she had never been this excited for an arrival before, but then again, she had never had such a valuable charge. Humans were a rare commodity in this solar system, but to mix a rarity with the last of the Time Lords. Matron had butterflies just thinking about the price she could fetch when she had fully trained the child.

She stroked the hair of the young girl who frowned and moaned in her sleep.

"Time to wake up my darling" Matron cooed in a sickly manner. The girl, Rose, the Doctor man had called her opened her eyes and looked up blankly at Matron. Good, matron thought, the memory block was working. The institute put these blocks on every patient that came through the doors, to them nine months past in an instant, forgotten as soon as matron deactivated the block. If not the institute would have come to the attention of the Shadow Proclamation long ago. Matron shuddered at the thought. She fiddled with the IV tubes by Rose's bed and checked one of the small screens, the IV contained a chemical that induced labour almost immediately and matron needed to ensure the baby was in the correct position in order to pass without complication. It was, matron fiddled with the IV some more allowing the liquid to flow into Rose's arm.

"Not long now, my dear, just a little bit of pain and then my fortune will arrive" she said barely disguising the greed in her voice. Rose just stared at her blankly until she began screaming as the chemical inducer kicked in.

A few hours later

Matron held the tiny bundle in her arms, the baby was a young girl with dark blonde hair and big brown eyes, currently she was adorable and matron hoped she would inherit her mother's good lucks. Prettier children always made the most money. She had instructed Jordullian to take Rose and the Doctor to the blue box they had found on the day of their arrival. The memory blockers would remain active until they reached a certain distance away, when they would switch off, possibly causing a minor blackout but leaving the two travellers with no memory of their time at the institute.

The small bundle didn't make a sound as matron lay her in a cot and began to sort through the items left by the travellers. She liked to keep small mementos from the child's donors in order to show buyers the gene pool. From Rose she had taken a lock of hair, a photograph and a coin with a picture of a queen on one side. Matron recognised it from her studies as a form of Earth currency although she didn't recall which. She placed these items into a file and sat down behind her desk looking into the cot.

"Now, what do we call you, my little money making machine?" She spoke in an uncharacteristically soft manner to the small child, who looked up at her with big brown eyes full of hope. Matron remembered a young girl from her childhood who had very similar eyes, her name had been Annalise and matron decided to name the young girl after her. The child gurgled happily, not knowing of the years of hardship she was about to endure.


	10. Chapter 9

The institute -10 years after Rose and the Doctor left

Annalise looked up and down the corridor ensuring that matron and her pet were nowhere to be seen, if she was caught then the punishment would be much worse than the usual beatings. She shuddered at the thought of what matron would do to her if she discovered Annalise in her office uninvited. She snuck in through the door and began to search through the drawers behind matron's large desk, she needed to find her file rapidly before matron returned. She had to find her file, Annalise was sick of matron and the other staff members telling her she was a nobody. She knew she must have come from somewhere, she understood the basics of biology and she wanted to know who her parents were.

As she moved from the drawers to the filing cabinet Annalise hit the jackpot, there was a drawer full of files ordered alphabetically and she didn't have to search for long until she found her own name. She pulled the file out and opened it on the desk. A quick scan of the information in there revealed a little. Her parents had been travellers who had come to the institute by accident, her mother was a human named Rose and her father didn't appear to have a name, he was simply referred to as the Doctor. Rose frowned as she read that he was a Time Lord, she was sure that her history teacher had said they were extinct, that they all died in a war with the Daleks. Maybe matron had made a mistake. In the front pocket of the file was a photograph, Annalise assumed the woman in the picture was her mother, a lock of blonde hair in a small silver locket and a coin. As she held the locket she heard matron's unmistakeable tones drifting down the corridor towards her. Her heart begin to race, she needed to get out of there fast. Piling all the notes back into the folder she pocketed the items, and stuffed the folder back into the gap in the filing cabinet drawer, she was glad that the folders looked dusty, hopefully matron would never notice the missing items. She left the room and leant as casually as possible against the wall next to the door just as matron rounded the corridor.

"Annalise, what are you doing here? Should you not be in training?!" Matron barked.

"No, Ma'am" Annalise replied.

"Then what are you doing?" Matron repeated her patience rapidly running out with the girl.

"Nothing Ma'am" Annalise said looking down at the floor.

"Then get out of my sight!" Matron ordered. Annalise turned and walked smartly away from matron as quickly as possible. Matron cast a wary eye over her as she walked away, although she was only 10 that girl was too clever for her own good. She asked far too many questions and had to be disciplined far too frequently. Matron thought it might be time for a big shock in order to try and bring the girl in line, she summoned Jordullian to her office.

Annalise didn't slow her pace until she had reached her room, once there she buried her pocketed items into the cardboard box on the floor containing her clothes, then she flopped onto the bed. Her heart was still racing as she lay there and contemplated the information she had just found out, slowly she drifted off to sleep dreaming of a different life, a life where she wasn't stuck in this dreary dank institute, but instead lived in a pretty little house with her mother and father.

Annalise was rudely awoken from her dreams by a rough hand grabbing her round the neck. It was Jordullian, matron's pet thug. She tried to remember her combat training but he was cutting off her airway making it difficult to concentrate. His huge ugly face began to swim in front of her as she began to pass out. Suddenly she was in the floor again gasping for breath. Before she could recover Jordullian kicked her in the ribs, he did it again and again until Annalise curled into a foetal position. This was the first of many times Annalise would find herself in this position over the next five years, no matter the number of beatings she just couldn't keep her mouth shut. Jordullian leant down next to her and whispered into her ear.

"Next time don't be so insolent you stupid little rat."

5 Years Later-the day our story began-The Institute

Annalise ran faster than she had ever run before. Even for her booby trapping matron's office had been risky, but she was sick of the way matron treated her. She was mainly sick of repeatedly being told no one cared for her, especially when Annalise was sure that her parents would never have forgotten her. She had placed a bucket of ice water and flour on the top of the door and then hidden round the corner waiting for matron. It had been hilarious to see matron floundering about like a floury snowman, hilarious until Jordullian had come up behind her and dragged her towards matron. Annalise had only just escaped and now she was running, running as fast as she could, she needed somewhere to hide...quickly.

She turned down the corridor towards the laundry room but as she reached the door she heard Jordullian's footsteps round the corner, her heart sank, she was trapped. Jordullian began to lay into her with more vengeance than he ever had before, kicking and punching and throwing her around like a ragdoll. As the pain ripped through her she thought of her parents and how this would never happen if they were there, she wished so hard that they would rescue her, she wanted it more than anything in the whole world, she wanted it so much her heart hurt. Suddenly there was a golden glow behind her eyelids and she screamed in pain as her world went dark.


	11. Chapter 10

Back on the TARDIS

Rose watched the Doctor's face as Annalise recounted her time at the institute. At first he was sceptical; Rose wondered whether or not he thought the girl was an imposter sent by one of his enemies as a trap. She had this very thought when Annalise began to describe the Institute, a place like that couldn't really exist could it? A place built to engineer assassins? She couldn't help but gasp in shock as the girl described some of her lessons. Apparently this unassuming young girl in front of her had had lessons in all kinds of weaponry, knew 12 different languages and could kill a man in less than 10 seconds. Rose looked again at the young girl in front of her, even though she was injured and clearly extremely underfed Rose could see the well defined muscles underneath her skin and the keenness of her eyes as she searched the room. This girl was designed to be fatal.

"Who would buy a child assassin?" She asked, looking at the Doctor more than Annalise, but it was the young girl who answered.

"No-one suspects a child, people don't look at us twice" she muttered looking at the floor rather than Rose. Oddly Rose got the feeling that the girl was ashamed. She hadn't said anything about being employed before so what would she have to be ashamed about? Rose looked up the Doctor, his face had softened and he now wore an expression of concern.

"The matron used to use the best trainees to take out people who looked too closely at the institute's practises" Annalise continued, she shuddered and her words caught in her throat. Rose was sure the young girl was struggling not to cry. It was difficult to imagine being bred and raised to be a killer. "We didn't get a choice" she looked up her eyes begging forgiveness from Rose and the Doctor. Forgiveness for a deed she had no choice but to make, surely it had been self preservation.

"What they made you do, it's not your fault" the Doctor began softly, "but that doesn't mean you shouldn't feel guilty, it's only... well... human." His eyes caught Rose's at that moment and he wondered how much the girl knew. Did she realise she wasn't completely human? More to the point did she realise that not only was Rose her mother, he was technically her father? He needed to go to this institute and question the matron character, but first he needed to know what Annalise knew.

"I need to do something Annalise" the Doctor said hesitantly, "it shouldn't hurt but it'll let me see what you know quickly and hopefully you'll have some information on the Institute locked away in there."

"We're going b-back?" Annalise stammered, fear flashed through her eyes and her posture changed, her shoulders contracted as if she was trying to make herself smaller, she was scared and Rose's heart immediately went out to her. She stretched her hand out and touched the girl's hand. Annalise looked up through tear filled eyes and smiled a small smile.

"It'll be fine" Rose said,"you'll be with me and the Doctor; we won't let anyone hurt you." At this Annalise looked up at the Doctor who smiled his most reassuring smile. Rose had to stifle a giggle, the smile the Doctor thought was reassuring looked more to her like a shark eyeing up its prey. She'd have to mention that to him later, but for now it appeared to do the trick, the young girl had relaxed slightly. The Doctor moved towards her on the infirmary bed until they were sat side by side, his upper body twisted towards hers as she looked up at him, slight apprehension in her eyes.

"I'm going to search your thoughts" the Doctor murmured, "anything you don't want me to see just imagine a door, I won't go through it."

Rose wondered what doors she'd put up now. When she had first met the Doctor they had had so many secrets from each other, but many long nights on the TARDIS had meant that there were very few of those left. The Doctor raised his hands towards Annalise's face, as he went to place his fingers on her temples she flinched backwards her eyes filled with fear.

"There was a lady at the institute who used to do this" she whispered, "she used to put monsters inside your head and make you forget things." Her eyes filled with tears.

"I promise I won't do that" the doctor said softly, he placed his finger under her chin tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes, "trust me." Annalise nodded, clenched her fists and shut her eyes. Rose could see the tension in her shoulders and wondered whether the young girl would ever be able to get over what had happened in that horrible place, she must have been much stronger than her small frail frame suggested as the torture she'd already spoke of was more than even the bravest could withstand. The Doctor leant forward and placed his fingertips gently on her temples. His eyelids fluttered shut and a look of intense concentration crossed his face.

"That's right just imagine a door, I won't open it I promise." Rose smiled inwardly and wandered out of the infirmary towards the kitchen to make a cuppa. The TARDIS hummed softly in her mind, Rose smiled and felt warmed by it. She sang softly to herself as her tea brewed. As the warmth from the mug spread through her fingers Rose headed out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom, she knew the Doctor would be a while and in all honesty she was exhausted and a few hours of sleep was too good an opportunity to miss. As she reached her room she exhaled deeply, it had been a confusing day and she was exhausted, she leant on the door and almost cried at the sight of her bed. She sank backwards onto the pillows and within moments fell fast asleep.

Meanwhile the Doctor's brow furrowed as he felt himself drift further into Annalise's mind, the stuff he saw was horrifying and he began to wonder what lay behind her doors. As more and more images of abuse filtered through his peripheral vision he found it harder and harder to be passive, he could feel his anger building.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" he murmured. He knew the words were never going to make up for the years of torture this small girl had undergone but he felt her mind relax slightly and her thoughts slowed allowing him to pick and choose the memories he wanted to study. The further he went the more his horror grew, he began to feel nauseous, this nausea increased as he saw Annalise's file on matron's desk. Her life story was there to see, a birth certificate fell out of the side his sharp intake of breath mirrored Annalise's. These were her parent's names and there was his and Rose's name on the lines for father and mother. Suddenly Annalise gasped again.

"Y-y-you" she stammered, "when you said you were the Doctor I thought it was just a title, I didn't, I didn't make the connection."

"Don't open your eyes" the Doctor murmured his hearts breaking as he realised the young girl was crying. As her emotions increased her grip on her mind decreased, suddenly doors flew open and the Doctor was bombarded with images of abuse, neglect and loneliness floated in front of his eyes.

"Annalise, Annalise, I need you to calm down, please, "he begged half inside her mind. Her breathing was ragged and unless he was extremely careful she was going to have a full blown panic attack. "Just breathe, in and out, that's right, you're okay." As she calmed down the Doctor made his way quickly through her mind to find the rest of the information he needed.

"I'm sorry" he murmured as he opened his eyes, the girl in front of him was swaying slightly where she sat, the stress of his searching clearly having taken its toll. She didn't open her eyes immediately and the tears spilling out from underneath her eyelids glittered softly in the dim lights of the infirmary. The Doctor felt the TARDIS hum indignantly in his brain as if she was irritated at his lack of tact. "Annalise..." he was interrupted as the girl flinched back from him, jumping down off the bed and running towards the door. The Doctor shook his head in shock before leaping up and running after her. He was surprised how quickly the girl could run, especially in her condition as the long corridor outside the infirmary was completely empty. He sighed in frustration and sent a mental plea out to the TARDIS. A door halfway down the corridor opened slowly and he sprinted towards it.

The Doctor chased the girl through the corridors of the TARDIS for what felt like forever, he was beginning to get tired and he wondered how on Galifrey the young girl was still running considering just a few days ago she was almost dead. He rapidly discovered however, that she wasn't, he came across the small girl slumped against the wall. Her breathing was shallow and her face pale and waxy. He knelt down and gently placed two fingers to her neck in order to measure her pulse, it was rapid and fluttery, her eyes opened slowly, the Doctor was alarmed to see that their light and playful spark was rapidly diminishing.

"It hurts; it hurts so much "she breathed wincing in pain.

"Shush, don't speak, it's going to be okay, it's all going to be okay." The Doctor stroked her hair from her clammy forehead as he scanned the damage with his screwdriver, although she had worsened several of her older injuries it didn't seem to correspond to the level of pain the girl was expressing. He sighed, the invasion of her mind must have taken more out of her than he expected. He'd have to be more careful if he was going to do it again, boy she must have had some real cowboys working in her head to provide that level of pain in response to a simple telepathic bond. He stood and bent down to help the girl to her feet, murmuring encouragement as he went. They took a few steps before Annalise's legs gave way from underneath her, the Doctor scooped her up into his arms and carried her back towards the infirmary. He placed her softly on the bed, connected a few wires and turned off the lights. He ran his hands through his hair as he headed towards the console room. Today had been one extremely stressful day, he felt drained and a few hours of unnecessary tinkering would do him good.


	12. Chapter 11

Rose awoke with a sudden gasp as a loud alarm rang around her room on the TARDIS. This was followed by the Doctor's cheery tones, seemingly coming from nowhere.

"Ooh the TARDIS has an intercom, how exciting! Sorry for the alarm, leant on the wrong switch, ooh isn't this exciting." The Doctor's excited ramblings faded away as he found more switches to tinker with. Rose sighed and ran her hands through her hair as she looked at the clock, 6am. She groaned, the Doctor hated sleep, he just couldn't sit still for long enough. Shaking her head to try and remove the tendrils of sleep threatening to drag her back down, she stretched and moaned as her muscles complained at the movement. There was a loud banging at her door.

"Oi, Rose come on get up! Things to do, places to see, people to meet." The Doctor appeared to be back to his usual effervescent, over excitable five year old self. Rose sighed again.

"Give me a mo'" she muttered, "need a shower." She stumbled from her bed to her wardrobe, found a suitable pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt and shuffled to the bathroom yawning as she went. As the hot water washed away her fatigue Rose thought back over the unusual events of the past few days. It was weird to think that little girl in the infirmary was technically her daughter. Rose felt a pang of misery at this, the Doctor had explained to her, a long time ago, that along with the not aging, whatever happened on the game station all those years ago had meant she could never conceive children. It was in her mind a small price to pay in order to have kept the Doctor safe, but she still occasionally felt that little hit of sadness when she thought about the children she would never have. Then again, there was a child in the infirmary that was hers, anger bubbled in the pit of Rose's stomach at the fact her chance of raising the young girl had been stolen by this institute and she looked up into the spray of the shower to calm herself.

When Rose was showered and dressed she walked towards the TARDIS console room, running a comb through her wet hair and hoping that the Doctor's plans didn't involve too much running or she'd have to wash it all again.

"Finally" the Doctor's voice cut through her thoughts "was about to send a search party in after you." He chuckled as he glanced at Rose from behind the screen.

"Ha-bloody-ha" muttered Rose as she cast a glance over her favourite room of the TARDIS, she loved it in here, the round wall decorations just reminded her of home and were almost as comforting as a cup of tea with her mum. Rose sighed as she thought of her mum, she hadn't seen her in years, not since she'd chosen to stay with the Doctor permanently and thinking about her still made Rose's stomach contract, she blinked away her tears as the Doctor came over to her and put his arm around her waist.

"You okay?" He asked his brown eyes looking at her with a hint of concern. She breathed deeply and got control of herself.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" She replied breezily, pushing his arm away and wandering down the corridor towards the general direction of where the kitchen usually was. The Doctor sighed and went back to tinkering with the console, the TARDIS making soft humming noises as he worked.

Rose hummed softly to herself as she went into the kitchen; she loved the kitchen on the TARDIS. It was a bright sunny yellow, with an air of being lit by bright sunshine although it contained no windows. There was always a well stocked fridge and freezer as well as several cupboards full of both Earth and alien cuisine. There was a large dining table that took up one corner of the room made of a light oak. Rose had always wondered why that table was there as whenever she and the Doctor ate in the kitchen they'd always eat at the island on the tall stools or on one of the two comfy leather sofas. The whole room exuded a homely vibe and she wasn't sure how but the TARDIS always managed to make the room smell as if something pleasant was baking in the oven and after a hard day Rose loved to sit back with a cup of tea and relax in the calmness and light of the room. As she entered the room today, however, she realised she wasn't the only one who'd decided to take refuge in there, she smiled to herself, must be a human thing. Annalise was sat on one of the sofas sipping at a massive mug of tea, Rose was happy to see the girl had some colour back in her cheeks and she seemed much more relaxed. She was wearing a light green hoodie that Rose had discarded long ago, over a black dress and tights. She looked up from the book she had been scanning to smile at Rose.

"Wot'cha" Rose greeted as she went over to the kettle to make a cup of tea. Her smile widened as she saw her favourite mug on the side with a teabag already inside it.

"Hey" Annalise grinned softly. "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk and the corridors they rearranged themselves! I think the ship wanted me to find the library. It's incredible in there, so many books."

"Don't forget the swimming pool!" Rose grinned as the kettle whistled. "Yeah the TARDIS does that, she doesn't always take you where you want to go, but she always takes you where you need." She stopped when she heard herself, "God, I sound like the Doctor" she rolled her eyes and both her and Annalise laughed.

"And what may I ask, is wrong with sounding like me?" The Doctor entered the room a look of mock hurt on his face. Rose just looked at him and rolled her eyes again. She grabbed her mug and went to sit next to Annalise on the sofa. The Doctor lay back on the sofa opposite her, resting his trainers on the small coffee table. Rose sighed happily as she sipped her tea, these new teabags her and the Doctor had picked up a few months back were gorgeous, a slight spicy hint making them much better than her old earth brands. Rose smiled as she remembered that planet, it was a planet full of cafes, every type of cafe was there and they served every type of beverage imaginable.

"OI!" Rose jumped as she realised the shout was directed at her. She turned to face the Doctor who was looking at her indignantly. She realised that he must have been speaking for a few minute before he noticed she wasn't listening.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" She asked grinning. He sighed with mock exasperation and she felt the sofa shake slightly as Annalise giggled.

"As I was saying..." he muttered, "I think we need to go to this Institute, if they have taken my blood then, well I need that back." Rose felt Annalise tense beside her at the mention of the institute and reached a hand across to pat her knee. "And also, we need to shut that place down, it can't continue to exist, it shouldn't have existed in the first place." Rose caught the Doctor's eyes and saw them flash with anger and at that moment she was once again reminded why he was known as the oncoming storm, and why so many races were afraid of him. This was the man that could burn planets, turn armies around with a mention of his name, a man who could strike fear even into the heart of the Daleks. Rose moved her hand from Annalise's knee and stood to go and stand behind where the Doctor sat. She rested her hands lightly on his soldiers gently drawing patterns with her fingers in an attempt to try and calm him; he was scaring an already shaken Annalise, hell he was scaring her.

The Doctor took a deep breath, shut his eyes and composed himself. When he reopened his eyes the fire was gone but the steel remained, he was going to sort this situation out as soon as he possibly could, it had been going on for far too long without his knowledge and he really didn't like not knowing things. As he looked at the girl across from him, already looking almost healthy thanks to the TARDIS he felt even the steel drain away as he realised how much he'd shaken her again. He sighed and tried to smile reassuringly at her. It was at this moment that the TARDIS decided to beep in an extremely loud and incessant manner. The Doctor jumped up and ran out of the kitchen rapidly leaving the two girls slightly baffled and bemused in his wake. Rose motioned her head to the smaller girl indicating that she should follow her.

They reached the console room just as the Doctor was programming coordinates into the TARDIS.

"The beeping was the TARDIS, I inputted all the information I got from Annnalise's memories into one of her algorithms and she traced the psychic patterns to give us a list of planets where the institute is most likely to be." He babbled rapidly not even pausing to take a breath. Rose smiled, he always looked so happy when he was explaining about one of his beloved ship's processes. And his happiness radiated outwards filling the console room with joy, it was infectious, both her and Annalise had matching grins to the Doctor as he ran around the room.

"Guessing the beeping meant she found it then?" Rose felt it as the girl beside her froze slightly. The Doctor looked towards them both his smile lessening slightly.

"Yeah" he said softly, "I'm sorry Annalise, I know you don't want to go back, I know they hurt you, I'm so sorry but you're going to have to be brave, so so brave." He looked into the girl's tear filled eyes as she bit her lip and nodded. The Doctor cupped her cheek and stroked away the tear that slowly dribbled down her face. Rose stepped closer and took the girl's hand squeezing it in a vaguely reassuring manner.

"I know we have to go" Annalise murmured her voice shaky, "and I'm not scared for me, I can deal with them, I know what to do, I'm scared for you two. I don't want them to hurt you. I've only just found you, I can't lose you again." Rose felt her heart break and she wanted nothing more than to drag the girl into a huge hug but before she had a chance to do so the Doctor had his arms around both of them.

"Hey, don't be worried about us! Me and Rose, well, we're good at this sort of thing! Always getting into scrapes us eh Rose?" The Doctor smiled as he said this looking pointedly at Rose.

"Always" she muttered looking at him in a quizzical way. Certainly her and the Doctor had got in many scrapes, usually due to the fact he couldn't shut his big mouth for more than 5 seconds, but this institute place was truly dangerous, truly scary and she felt that the young girl had a right to be terrified. She sighed and gave Annalise's hand a squeeze. "We'll be fine, don't you worry about us" she said in a more confident manner, watching as the younger girl's eyes roamed her face for any hint of a lie. Annalise nodded, took a deep breath and smiled, albeit a small and tear stained smile but a smile nonetheless.

"That settles it then!" Said the Doctor springing back towards the console and flipping switches and twisting dials as the TARDIS beeped and whistled. Rose rolled her eyes at him and went to the other side of the console to look at the screen and see just where they were heading. The TARDIS gave a rapid jerk and she grabbed on just as the Doctor shouted in a vaguely manic way

"ALLONSY!"


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey anyone who's still trawling through, apologies for the MASSIVE wait on this chapter, been madly busy! Cheers for reading and I hope you enjoy xxx**

Matron was fuming. It had been three days since Annalise had mysteriously disappeared and there was no trace of her anywhere. She'd had her staff searching high and low and now she was beginning to panic. What if the girl had escaped? She shook her head, she was being stupid, there was no escape from the institute. The girl was probably hiding in the cellars somewhere, snivelling about her woes. She sighed, she was beginning to tire of this job, sure at first it was fun, terrorising everyone suited her nasty streak perfectly, but recently she had been getting tired, tired of the brutality, tired of the children and tired of all the bloody admin. She sighed again as a sharp knocking at her door heralded the arrival of her search team.

"Enter" she said curtly only raising her eyes from the paperwork on her desk when she could be sure the team was squirming. She out stared each and everyone one of the four hulking men until they were all staring at the floor in front of them squirming. "SO?" She enquired, her tone dangerously calm.

"Um, well, erm, we.. well" the leader of the team stuttered, he had to be pushing 20 stone of pure muscle but under Matron's glare he was reduced to a quivering five year old on his first day of school.

"Enough!" Matron snapped, she was sick of her incompetent staff. Honestly if you wanted something done it was better to do it yourself. She sighed as she stood. "I shall look for the girl myself. You lot make sure no one else escapes." She sighed again as they stood in her office all looking a little bit lost. "WELL GO." She almost screamed this as her last shred of patience ebbed away. The team hurried from the room pushing in front of each other- no one wanting to bear the brunt of the Matron's temper.

Matron left her office her smart black heels tapping threateningly along the polished wood floors that made up the corridors of the institute. Her steps echoed throughout the silent halls, the only sound in the massive building. She was livid, if Annalise got to any relevant authorities-the shadow proclamation for example, then the wrath of hell would be upon them and it would mean prison for sure, possibly even a death sentence. Matron shuddered, she didn't want to die.

The TARDIS spun and bounced around as if in a pinball machine, the Doctor was clinging on to the console and grinning wildly, whilst Rose clung on opposite watching him with a look of sheer joy. Annalise was clinging to the guardrail looking slightly incredulously at them both.

"You're both crazy, you know that?" She giigled, caught up in the mood of the room.

"Yup" the Doctor replied rapidly and unashamedly.

"Yup" Rose echoed still grinning as she was thrown backwards from the console, only preventing herself from being thrown down the main TARDIS corridor by wrapping her arm around the guardrail.

"Something's up with the TARDIS antigravs!" The Doctor mused as grabbed on to the TARDIS console screen to prevent himself being dragged away from the console. Suddenly everything in the room began to float; Rose smiled to herself as she remembered watching news reports from the space station when she was back on Earth. She gripped onto the guardrail hard as her feet made their way past her head and she found herself upside down clinging on. Across the console room Annalise was doing the same, attempting to avoid debris that was floating around.

"Two secs," the Doctor muttered, pressing several buttons resulting in different whirring noises from the TARDIS. Eventually one of his combinations must have worked because almost immediately everything fell to the floor with a thump. Annalise cried out at she landed oddly on her ankle and crumpled to the floor, Rose, who had managed to land with her knees bent, rushed to the girl as did the Doctor. Annalise had sat up by the time Rose reached her and was grimacing as the Doctor extended her leg and rotated her ankle slowly trying to assess the damage.

"Hmm, infirmary with you, need you fighting fit before we step out there." He muttered this as he scooped her into his arms and carried her through the corridors back to the room she had spent almost all her time in since coming aboard the TARDIS. Rose followed slowly, contemplating the change she had seen in the girl in the past few days. She sighed, that poor little girl had gone through so much and they were taking her right back into the heart of it all, who knew what was going to happen.

As she entered the infirmary she heard the Doctor and Annalise chatting away, she smiled as she heard him tell her how he would show her the stars once they had sorted out this mess. The girl's face lit up and her grin threatened to split her face in half.

"Can- well, could, I mean could we please go and see where you are both from?" She asked timidly. "I want to know what sort of people I'm from, then perhaps, I don't know after a little bit of travelling, maybe I could, I don't know stay there.."

The speech sounded well rehearsed and Rose wondered whether this had been what the girl was thinking about before the gravity had disappeared in the console room. The Doctor's face fell slightly, and Annalise shrank back slightly, Rose could almost visibly see the girl deflate in front of her eyes. The small piece of confidence that travelling on the TARDIS had instilled in her slowly shrinking away.

"Sure, we can go to Earth, right Doctor?" Rose said pointedly. The Doctor nodded, and smiled again.

"Right, up you get come on, ankle should be all fixed now" he chirped. Annalise stood tentatively slowly putting weight onto her ankle before smiling and turning to the Doctor.

"Thank you Doctor" she smiled. She went to step back and cried out, falling to the floor clutching her head. As she fell Rose caught sight of her eyes, the pupils and the iris were both ringed with gold. The golden light from before was threading underneath her skin. The girl writhed on the floor screaming and moaning alternatively. Rose stepped forward but was prevented by the Doctor's arm.

"Don't go any closer, it'll burn you" he muttered reaching into the inside pocket of his pinstripe suit in order to retrieve his sonic screwdriver. He fiddled with it for several seconds until he figured out the right setting and pointed it at the girl. The blue light battled with the gold for dominance in the room and Rose shielded her eyes with her hands as the light grew overwhelmingly. "Come on, come on COME ON." The Doctor exclaimed as the gold light began to out shine the blue. Annalise's screams pitched up a notch and then she was still, the gold light increased until it was seared blindingly onto Rose's eyeballs and then it was gone.


End file.
